Goodwill Scholarship Supports Students with Disabilities

Timothy Young came to COTC for an Associate of Applied Business — his first educational experience in 10 years after graduating high school. Having switched from working in his family’s business to real estate, he needed two years of school to become a broker.

Young graduated in 1990. A few years later, one of his former professors asked him to sit on the board for the nascent Licking/Knox Goodwill Industries. He sat on the board from 1995 to 2008 and is now the company’s president and CEO, a position he accepted in 2011. “I got started here purely by the instructor and connection I had made at COTC.”

Young has maintained his relationship with COTC throughout his time with Licking/Knox Goodwill Industries. He sits on the COTC Alumni Council and was the 2015 recipient of the Outstanding Alumni Award. Young established a scholarship fund in 2014 to provide “educational opportunities to people with disabilities and other barriers.” This effort was originally for any college or trade school, but in 2023 Young created a separate fund, the Licking/Knox Goodwill Scholarship for COTC, to benefit students at the college.

“My experience at COTC was really wonderful. I think they work very hard to include the whole community,” he praised. “I think some people are missing the boat if they aren’t considering COTC. It’s economical, and it’s right here in your backyard.”

The first recipient of this COTC-specific scholarship is Sonja Darsee, who is pursuing an Associate of Applied Science in Surgical Technology. Like Young, she returned to the classroom after switching her professional priorities. Darsee, both a first-generation college student and a first-generation Hungarian American, used to work in data entry. “I just felt like it was mundane, doing the same thing over and over,” she said. “I just wanted to be in a field that felt more rewarding where I’m helping people.”

When Darsee enrolled at COTC and told her student success coach she’d struggled academically in the past, they helped give her the recommendation to be evaluated for a learning difference. “It turns out I do learn differently,” she said. “That was amazing. It was a huge relief to identify the issue and work on the solution,” she said. “I feel very, very lucky to be attending COTC.”

A part of the application process included a personal essay. Darsee wrote about her journey from struggling academically in high school to working jobs that didn’t fulfill her. “I just felt like I wasn’t going anywhere,” she said. “I decided I wanted to better myself and serve more of a purpose. I like the idea of contributing to a society and helping others.”

“Something that’s always come back to me is ‘just one more scholarship,’” Young stated. “It just takes one more scholarship to create a special life for someone. If you just give someone a chance, especially someone with barriers in their life, they can really amaze you.

It’s not just about education — it’s about a roof over their head, having a place to shower in the morning, to feel comfortable. Sometimes, they just need that one break to make a difference in their lives, in their family’s lives and in the community. It’s a domino effect. And I hope it’s going to be infectious.